Of Dragons, Strange Maidens, and Oranges Galore
by zecrazynutmunkee
Summary: When George Weasley is away, Anita Lovegood comes round to play. Oneshot OC/Fred AU
1. The Befriending Of Fred Weasley

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing, and don't claim any profit from this. This is a work of fiction, any and all resemblances are merely coincidental.  
><strong>Description: <strong>When George Weasley is away, Anita Lovegood comes round to play.  
><strong>Author's Note: <strong>I'm not British, so if my writing is too American, apologies. I'm very much an amateur, and I haven't written in ages, so bear with me, okay? :)

* * *

><p><strong>Of Dragons, and Strange Maidens, and Oranges Galore<strong>

_"I'd thought twins stuck to each other like brown stuck to dirt, or a loofah with body wash."_

* * *

><p>When I was 7, I met a boy. He was a twin, and they rather liked to keep to themselves . But once in awhile, on really really rare occasions, like, <strong>SUPER<strong> rare, you would see one of them without the other. I happened to stumble upon the boy when he was alone, and I noticed he wasn't playing with the others _at all_. So I, being the really nice person I was, befriended him.

~[*]~

"Hey Fred, didja know that the sky is red on Mars?"

A boy of 7 with flamboyant fire red hair momentarily stopped coloring in his dragon (orange, cause it was just _**that**_ cool) and looked to his right to meet the astonishingly expressive brown eyes of his fellow classmate, Anita Lovegood. They engaged in a staring contest for a bit before Fred lost (he swore there was something in his eye!)

Anita smiled (more liked grinned, what 7 year old merely _smiled?) _and continued as if they were having an ordinary conversation, regardless of the fact that one of the participating parties wasn't really participating per se.

"What do you think, Fred?"

Said boy in question narrowed his eyes and then grunted before turning back to his (insanelycool) drawing.

Fred tried as hard as he could to ignore the girl sitting beside him, focusing on his drawing instead.

Anita was not deterred; she just sat there patiently and stared at him (and occasionally his drawing.) However, her patience, which was one of an average, if not slightly above, 7 year old, could only go so far.

After 10 minutes of staring with no response, she decided enough was enough. So she did something about it.

***Poke***

….

***Poke***

….

***POKE!***

Fred was getting rather annoyed at the increasingly painful jabs at his ribs, so he finally snapped, "I think it'd be orange."

Anita tilted her head to the side and pondered his reply for awhile, before she smiled, read grinned, brightly and asked (in a rather annoying, perky, 'I'm-a-hyper-child-feed-me-sugar kind of way), "Really? Why?"

Fred sighed and shook his head at Anita as if she were the most hopeless person _ever. _"_Because, _orange is like, the cool color. And since Mars is Earth's twin, it's gotta be cool, like Earth. So of course it's gonna be orange. Plus, Dad made a solar system out of fruits one time, and he told me the orange _has_ to represent Mars!"

Anita blinked and nodded, murmuring, "That makes sense."

She seemed to travel off into her own world, her eyes glazing over, a sure sign that she was walking off into LaLa (she prefered Fuansua, why call it Lala? Made no sense.) Land. Fred stared at her for a bit before shrugging and returning (once again) to his still incomplete drawing.

They sat in silence for a bit, one coloring diligently, and ocasionally, _occasionally!,_ straying outside the lines, and the other gazing off into space. Fred Weasley would never admit it, but it felt kinda, well, _nice._ Only because he was used to having someone there with him, all the time!

The moment was popped when Anita shook out of her trance, a rather sweet grin stretching her mouth as she questioned Fred of the whereabouts of his equally mischievous twin. "Hey Fred, where's George?"

Upon mention of said equally devious counterpart, Fred stiffened, his hand tightening minutely on his crayon. "He's sick," he muttered, resuming coloring, pressing the crayon harder into the paper then needed. Anita pursed her lips and studied his hunched over form, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"Really? Well, how come you're not at home with him?" she slyly queried, her eyebrow quirking in the universal gesture of question.

Fred shrugged and replied, "Cause Mum wouldn't let."

"Well that's not nice. I'd thought twins stuck to each other like brown stuck to dirt, or a loofah with body wash." Anita mused, her eyes adopting an amused air.

Fred blinked at her rather unorthodox choice of comparison and he spluttered, "Wait, did you just compare me and George to body wash and a _loofah?_"

Anita nodded, grinning(again with the grinning!)

Fred, a bit miffed (and sortamaybealittleokyeaha_lot_ curious), asked, "Who's the loofah?"

Anita thought about the question a bit before replying matter-of-factly, "George."

Fred sniffed and thought ungenerously, _What kind of ridiculous pansy would want to be compared to a loofah anyway?_ Inside, he was secretly jealous, not that he'd ever admit it.

Anita tilted her head and smiled angelically, continuing, "Personally, I'd prefer the body wash out of the combination. 'Cause it smells good." Fred nodded as if this was complete common sense, though he was unable to stop the small (_**small!)**_ swell of manly (boyly?) pride that ballooned in his chest as the result of her words.

Once again they lapsed into a comfortable silence, one that was punctuated when a harried looking middle-aged man stumbled through the doorway. Everyone looked up at the intruder, curiosity alight in their eyes. Fred's eyes lit up with recognition, and he waved happily at the man, shouting, "Hey Dad!"

Arthur Weasley was a father to 7 kids, and worked a job at the Ministry of Magic. He never made much, and there always seemed to be trouble brewing at home (in the form of mischief and wrongly laid sweets) but he dearly loved all his children. His wife, Molly, though temperamental and slightly bonkers at times, truly was his one and only. Only she would put up with his muggle obsession. Any other pureblood wife would've tried to put an immediate stop to it. Yes, Arthur Weasley was a content man with everything he needed.

Mrs. Ferny, their daycare teacher, moved over to him, and greeted him cordially, answering his questions concerning Fred's behavior that day and whatnot. Arthur waved at Fred and called out cheerfully, "C'mon Freddie, time to go!" Fred waved back and then turned to Anita when he felt her tap him on the shoulder. She grinned and waved cheerily, chirping, "See you tomorrow then!" Fred looked surprised, but he merely shrugged and nodded, not saying anything in reply. It didn't matter, because the nod was all the affirmative Anita needed.

As Fred Weasley walked out that door, he couldn't help but glance back at the curious person he'd possibly made friends with. He then decided not all girls had cooties.

The next morning, Fred and George would be promptly dropped off at 8, and they'd stroll into the classroom with identical mischievous smirks firmly in place. They'd walk to their shared cubby, and Fred would find a finished drawing of an orange dragon taped to his side of the cubby. George would then pester him about it, to which he'd get no reply other than a very very happy grin.


	2. My Deepest Apologies AUTHOR'S NOTE

Most of you know this story by its previous title, _Just Don't Forget To Breathe_. I originally intended for it to be a multi-chaptered story, but I realized it could stand alone as a oneshot. Maybe one day, when I've got more time, I'll come back and pick it up again. For now, I consider it complete.

If you're interested in what I had in mind plot-wise for the original story, feel free to PM me and I'll tell you. :)

Thank you for taking the time to read this story! Reviews are love. :) Constructive criticism is most welcome! I'm always looking for a chance to improve my writing. ^^


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